


Angel Feathers

by Rasalahuge



Series: SupernaturalxPokemon fusion [5]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Supernatural
Genre: BAMF!Castiel, Canonical Character Death, Episode: s04e10 Heaven and Hell, Episode: s05e01 Sympathy for the Devil, Episode: s05e13 The Song Remains the Same, Gen, Skarmory is terrifying, bamf!Skarmory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-03-13 23:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3400070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rasalahuge/pseuds/Rasalahuge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>'At first Sam and Dean didn't realise that the angels used pokémon the same way humans did. That was until Skarmory dropped in on them in a scream of metal feathers.'</em>
</p>
<p>Stories about the angels and their bird pokémon, with Castiel and Skarmory as the main stars</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Steel and Light

**Author's Note:**

> You lucky people get three updates this week to my supernaturalxpokémon mash-up. Rejoice. (Although this one is sort of short)

The Winchesters had just assumed that angels did not use pokémon the way humans did. Most supernatural creatures didn’t after all. Demons generally had no use for them, most creatures – even the ones that had once been human – generally scared pokémon away and while ghost pokémon were attracted to human hauntings they could only be described as irritants and pests. They weren’t controlled by the spirits. So it made sense that angels didn’t either. What use did angels have for pokémon anyway? Were there even pokémon in Heaven? It wasn’t really something they thought about.

Except occasionally Sam would wonder – mostly when Growlithe ignored all tension in the room and acted like a puppy desperate for attention and ear scratches, going begging to Uriel with wide eyes. A few scratches that seemed to be given on autopilot and a pat on the head satisfied him and Uriel would go back to being a dick as though he hadn’t given into a spoiled pokémon’s pleading for attention.

Then Dean would wonder when Murkrow and Kashmir put aside their endless, _endless_ quarreling to bring Castiel the brightest, shiniest things they could find as if bringing the angel a prize. Given that Kashmir was a persian and Murkrow an unrepentant thief some of the shiny things they brought were very shiny indeed. More than that though the angel accepted each gift with a solemnity that wouldn’t be out of place if he were being handed the Grail itself.

It was weird but eventually the brothers decided that it meant nothing except that the pokémon could perhaps feel the angel-ness and were drawn to it. The angels themselves seemed infinitely more tolerant of pokémon compared to humans but then again pokémon didn’t have a habit of killing each other out of greed and jealousy or ruining the planet while they were at it so perhaps that made sense.

Then they met Anna, the fallen angel with an adorable hoothoot, and they drew angels and demons both into a trap. Castiel went head to head with Alistair and appeared to be losing.

Then Skarmory came screaming down out of thin air.

Most people looked at a skarmory and dismissed them as fat, goofy-looking, metal chickens. Most people hadn’t seen one flying directly at them, vicious talons outstretched, wings like shurikens at 180 kilometres an hour. The Winchester’s had seen a lot of things during their travelling through the years including, once, a genuine flock of rampaging gyarados – widely considered to be _the_ most terrifying pokémon-related sights in the world – but watching Castiel’s skarmory tear Alistair’s vessel to shreds left all them in the dust. It was at once horrifyingly disturbing, nauseatingly disgusting and incredibly, incredibly cool. What’s more even though the initial collision had knocked Hell’s chief torturer clear of Castiel the angel did not call off the skarmory, instead he just watched with a detached, unimpressed expression as Skarmory tried to rip the demon out of the human flesh.

Whether Skarmory would have succeeded remained one of the longest lived debates in the Winchester’s repertoire of long-car-journey conversations. Dean would remain convinced it was entirely possible for the rest of eternity. However they would never have definitive proof because Anna took advantage of the distraction the pokémon was providing to steal back her Grace.

When the dust settled and Anna had vanished so had Alistair, the two demons that came with him just corpses on the floor thanks to Uriel.

Skarmory screeched in annoyance at losing her prey but then righted herself and started to groom, blood dripping from steel feathers like rain down a windowpane. She ignored the angels, hunters and one remaining demon or at least appeared to. When Uriel stepped forward to teach Dean some manners and Castiel held him back the angel just said one word.

“Skarmory,” The bird looked up sharply, eyes focused on the angel.

The sound of enormous invisible wings was almost lost in the sound of screeching feathers as Skarmory took off, flying out of the open barn window that had let her enter in the first place. As she did so dust and straw was kicked up off the floor making the Winchesters and Ruby blink. When their eyes opened again both angels and pokémon were gone. If it wasn’t for the blood scattered across the floor they might never have been.

That and two feathers. One was metal scratched and tipped in blood. The other was iridescent and not-quite-there and made the brother’s eyes water just looking at it. Ruby took one look and refused to go near it.

“Angel feathers, huh?” Dean picked the two feathers up, twirling them together until they were a blur of colour and the lightest whistle of metal through air.


	2. Of Leeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zachariah does not like Castiel and he does not approve of Skarmory attempting to bully his Farfetch'd. The bird should learn who her betters are.

Zachariah did not like Castiel, he never had. There was just something altogether… righteous about the lesser angel even long before he ever met anyone called Winchester. Being righteous was, as Michael’s Lieutenant was happy to explain to anyone who cared, was a virtue that had fallen out of favour with Heaven. It was seen by those in the upper ranks as a lame rapidash, a liability at best and a catastrophe waiting to happen the rest of the time. Righteous got in the way of getting things done – as bad as honour or chivalry or bravery or any of those other descriptive terms for complete and utter reckless stupidity.

Castiel was – in angelic terms at least – a New Testament fledgling. Young, naïve and suckered into the traps of Love, forgiveness and _doing the right thing_. In short Castiel was blinded by his Faith.

Castiel was, unfortunately, also one of the cleverest and most creative of the angels of his rank.

“When I catch that… that… _fledgling_ I am going to pluck him, feather by feather,” Zachariah fumed as he stormed into his office in Heaven, “Then I am going to roast him, slowly, in a Holy Oil fire,” Not only had Castiel thoroughly embarrassed Zachariah by whisking the Winchesters out from under his very nose for the second time at the storage locker he had also somehow managed to hide them completely from angelic sight. Now he had to go to Michael and explain to him why he had failed to secure the archangel's vessel’s consent.

Zachariah shuddered at the thought. Last time he had spoken to Michael, to explain his plan, the archangel had been distracted by something; he couldn’t hope to be so lucky again.

“Far!” A short sharp wail agreed with his assessment and Zachariah turned to look at the pokémon who had followed him into the office. Farfetched painted a miserable sight, feathers all over the place, covered in dust and dirt, dragging his leek behind him. The angel added filleting that blasted iron turkey to his list of punishments for Castiel at the sight. He had no idea where Skarmory had gotten the impression it was okay for inferior pokémon to attempt to bully fine specimens like Farfetch’d no matter their relative sizes but really breaking the poor things’ leek was simply uncalled for. He knelt down by his faithful partner and held out a hand in silent request. The broken leek was obediently placed into his palm with a low sad croon and a forlorn expression.

Farfetch’d’s leek had been a gift from his mother when Zachariah had picked him out of a dozen baby bird pokémon offered up to the angel to choose from. Now, thanks to Skarmory, it was ruined, unsavable. Broken in three places, battered, dirty and half shredded at one end it was a pitiful sight. Technically Zachariah could reconstruct it at a molecular level but it would never be the same again, it would constantly need repairing to make sure the Grace continued to work. Or, well, at least that’s what Zachariah would tell Farfetch’d and it wasn’t a complete lie but mostly the thing had been fairly ratty to begin with and tiny compared to the leeks other Farfetch’d among the host had. Better take the excuse to get him a better one while he could.

“We’ll get you a new one,” Zachariah promised the heartbroken bird, “Fully organic, none of these chemical pesticides or genetically modified trash. Nothing but the best,” Farfetch’d looked at the leek mournfully and crooned sadly again, “I know it won’t be the same but you’ll just have to manage,” That earned him a frustrated cry and a peck aimed at his hand but Zachariah was too fast and moved his hand out of the way, “None of that now,” He said as if addressing one of the lower ranked angels, “That’s behaviour unbecoming of _my_ partner. Now you can continue to act like this and you won’t get a new leek at all or you can behave, have a temporary one until after the Apocalypse and then, once Paradise had been established on Earth, you can have whole fields of leeks to pick from for your own personal use. Is that an acceptable compromise?” The angel asked and Farfetch’d looked up at him, intelligence gleaming from his eyes as he considered the matter.

“Far!” He nodded just once, pleased. Zachariah chuckled; the little bratty bird knew exactly how to get the best out of a bad situation that was why the angel liked him.

“Now how about we go and visit Anael and Hoothoot?” The angel stood disintegrating the broken leek with barely a thought, “That always cheers you up and I’d love to see what progress Naomi has made with her,” The bird pokémon let out a cry of excitement and headed back to the door to the office. Zachariah chuckled again and headed out.

That was how a pokémon should act, Zachariah mused to himself as they headed towards Naomi’s work room, not like that vicious Skarmory. Taking advantage of every opportunity but dignified with it, taking pride in its work. Perhaps once Zachariah had the Winchesters and their pet angel he would arrange to have Skarmory re-educated to teach her proper decorum and more importantly not to attack her betters.


	3. What Ever Happened to Hoothoot?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna's Hoothoot was adorable but Anael's Noctowl was terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for minor errors in order and who does what for the episode, probably should have re-watched it to check.

  
_Noctowl stood and watched. It was her duty and her penance._

 

If it had just been Anna Dean might not have let Cas go and see her by himself in some misguided attempt to protect them from whatever it was she wanted. Anna was one of the few angels Dean trusted even if he hadn’t seen her in a while. Admittedly it was true that Cas had come back from bible camp as some sort of terminator-Castiel-Angel-of-the-Lord but he’d gotten over himself relatively quickly. Dean didn’t expect anything less from Anna.

Except it wasn’t just Anna.

Anna’s Hoothoot had been adorable, tiny, clumsy and an absolute sucker for warmth. She had spent more time curled up against Growlithe’s fur enjoying the fire pokémon’s internal heat than with Anna during the last time they’d all been together. Anael’s Noctowl on the other hand, was nothing short of terrifying. Dean didn’t notice her at first, hiding in the rafters of the strip joint he’d been dreaming of but he had felt her from the very first minute he realised he was dreaming. A dark, heavy weight on his thoughts, a pair of eyes watching from the shadows and peering into his very soul. When Noctowl had dropped down on silent wings to land on Anna’s shoulder Dean had nearly jumped out of his skin. He had definitely broken out into goose bumps.

Dean trusted his instincts, they’d saved his life on more than one occasion and he wasn’t going to stop now just because he and Anna had a brief fling. Cas might have come back from bible camp as terminator-Cas but Skarmory hadn’t changed in the slightest. She had been just as aloof and vicious and proud as she always had been and she had never set Dean’s instincts on alert the way Noctowl did. By this stage Dean had been around enough angels to know that if there was a problem with the pokémon there was a problem with the angel. He let Castiel go to meet Anna alone and ended up being glad he did.

  
_Noctowl stood and watched. Saw every movement, every emotion and every thought. Noctowl knew things before anyone else did and it was only partly because of her foresight. Noctowl observed, eyes never blinking and never wavering. It was all she was permitted to do._

  
Skarmory had almost torn a car to shreds when Cas collapsed on them in fury and panic. It had drawn attention to them, too much attention really but no one approached. Then again no one was probably stupid enough to approach a pissed off skarmory. Or maybe, Dean acknowledged as he spotted people pulling out very old versions of pokédexes, they just hadn’t seen one before. It occurred to him that this was ’79 and steel pokémon, like dark, were very rare outside of small mountainous communities which Kansas definitely did not qualify as. Did these people even know steel pokémon existed? He didn’t know and he didn’t want to find out so he dragged Cas up from the ground and towards the nearest motel leaving Sam to coax the bird with them.

In the end they left Cas as the motel to recover. However they could not persuade Skarmory to stay with him despite her clear worry for the angel’s well-being. It seemed she was determined to fulfil the duty of protecting the Winchesters in her partners place, especially as they were out of their own time. Sam made a face when Dean finally conceded, the last thing they needed was to attract attention by having a rare pokémon following them around. Skarmory huffed in annoyance and took off, flying into the sky until she was barely more than a speck circling far above like any other bird pokémon or perhaps a buzzard. It let her follow them to the house John and Mary Winchester called home at which stage she flew down to join them in the house.

“I’ve never seen a Skarmory this far from the mountains,” John said eyeing the bird cautiously. Unsurprising, given that Skarmory was preening her razor sharp feathers in the corner of the room while the Winchesters four held an extremely awkward family conversation, “Never seen one up close either, they tended to stay up high in ‘Nam,”

“She belongs to a friend of ours,” Sam answered fidgeting in such a way that made him seem odd, as if the couple didn’t already think he was odd, “He’s ill so he asked us to bring her with us. So she wasn’t cooped up inside all the time,”

“She doesn’t have a pokéball?” Mary asked pointedly.

“Cas doesn’t really believe in them,” Dean cut in smoothly. A few minutes later the phone rang and John left to answer it allowing the three hunters to have an actual conversation. Albeit a short one, Dean felt that horrible weight on his thoughts mere moments before Skarmory looked up sharply and let out an infuriated shriek.

  
_Noctowl watched. It had become her life, all she was permitted to do. She stood and watched as her beloved Anael Fell. Stood and watched when Anael didn’t remember her loyal pokémon. Noctowl stood and watched as demons and angels tried to kill her Anael and she stood and watched as the Winchesters saved her. She stood and watched through Anael’s capture, the torture, the breaking._

_When Anael tried to save the world at the bidding of her masters and the Winchesters fought alongside that beloved (hated) skarmory Noctowl decided she’d had enough of standing and watching._

  
The first thing Anna did when the Winchesters interfered with her assault on John was send their pokéballs flying to the other side of the garage. Sensible, given that Murkow and Asmar were both immune to Noctowl’s psychic attacks. However she clearly hadn’t expected Skarmory to have come with them if Castiel hadn’t. The two bird pokémon clashed in mid-air over the cars and the humans and one rogue angel; the screech of talons on metal assaulted the ears of the humans. Skarmory was quick, clever and vicious. Noctowl was powerful; more powerful than Hoothoot could ever have hoped to be. 

Skarmory’s feathers gave her a physical defence that was near-impenetrable but the same couldn’t be said for her special defence. For the first time since the Winchesters met Cas’ partner Skarmory was losing a fight. Noctowl’s psychic assault left her dizzy enough that the razor sharp beak and claws had the time to find the weak spots in gleaming feathers and _tear_. If it wasn’t for Sam seeing her plight, seeing his brother and mother losing their own, and quickly drawing out a banishing sigil, things might have ended very differently and very badly.

As Anna disappeared in a flash of light Noctowl let out a cry of rage and let off on her assault of the dizzy and confused Skarmory, who was now attacking herself in a mindless panic, and shot towards Sam. The human was ready though, pokéball in hand and Asmar launched himself at the bird without hesitation. Noctowl swerved in mid-flight to avoid the dark pokémon, her wings just barely being clipped by the attack. Asmar turned and readied one of his more powerful attacks but Noctowl was not stupid. She turned on a point and flew to the window, glancing back just once to focus on Skarmory, eyes glowing briefly with a malicious air.

The Winchesters left the garage, two determined, one worried and the last scared and furious. They piled into the Impala, Skarmory finally calm and spreading herself across Dean and Sam’s laps in exhaustion. She tried desperately not to slice them to pieces accidentally but while the confusion was gone the dizziness remained and the two brothers ended up with more than one cut.

  
_Noctowl stood and watched. Or in this case flew and watched. It didn’t bother her, not this time; this time she was being useful. She was silent in her flight, wings stroking through the wind and eyes taking in even the slightest bits of light. She followed the black car her entire body thrumming with excitement, her talons twitching with anticipation of sinking into delicate skin. She was powerful. She had almost defeated the hated (beloved) skarmory. No longer would she have to stand by, unable to help._

_No longer was she weak._

  
Skarmory did no better the second time around. In fact as she was still wounded and none of the Winchesters had the potions to hand to help her recover she fared rather worse. Especially given that she was facing not only Anna’s Noctowl but also the cruel and violent dodrio that the two brothers had hoped they’d seen the last off. Uriel’s dodrio was unique among his species in that all three heads were united in bloodlust and violence. Dodrio might not be able to fly but he could jump and he could also fire off tri-attacks that hit Skarmory with fire and electricity, her only two weaknesses. 

Dean and Sam had planned to allow their pokémon out to help Skarmory however they had not been expecting both Anna and Uriel. Between the two angels neither had the time to even think about going for a pokéball let alone actually release one of the four of them to help. Then once Sam was down and John had gone out of the window leaving just Dean and Mary struggling against the angels several things happened at once.

Firstly Noctowl’s eyes flashed bright for just one moment. Secondly the attack she had predicted earlier hit Skarmory hard enough to knock the bird out cold. She let out a pained cry and collapsed to the wooden floor with a tremendous crash.  
Finally a figure appeared in the middle of the room.

“ **Michael** ,”

  
_Noctowl was not weak. Not anymore. She did not need to stand and watch her Anael go through terrible things, unable to help. Noctowl was strong, powerful. Noctowl had defeated that beloved (hated) skarmory and she would tear apart anyone who attempted to harm her angel again. Even (especially) if the someone harming Anael was an archangel, the archangel who had ordered her broken in the first place._

_Michael pressed a single finger to Anael’s forehead._

_Anael screamed._

_Noctowl attacked._

_She let loose every last scrap of power she had, mental and physical. Claws tore at Michael’s face, beak and his eyes, every scrap of love and pain and fear assaulted his mind._

_The archangel turned his eyes to look at her._

_**‘ENOUGH’** _

_Noctowl barely had time to recognise the word for what it was._

_In the end she was still too weak._

  
Dean had already been freaked out when the young version of his father simply appeared from nowhere. He had to admit he panicked slightly when the archangel’s identity was revealed. But of everything that happened in that little safe house nothing could truly compete with the utter horror that he felt when Noctowl attacked. That dark, heavy weight that had followed the bird wherever it went focused in on the archangel and for one brief, heart-stopping minute it had seemed so powerful, so overwhelming that he thought surely, surely Michael must feel that. Must be hurt by that. 

Then Michael turned and looked at Noctowl.

Something _else_ , something immense suddenly dwarfed the weight he felt from Noctowl. Beside him Mary screamed in pain at the feeling of it, the sharp edges, and Dean had a feeling that if Sam had been awake he too would have been in agony. Dean however didn’t feel anything; he just stood and watched as Noctowl fell to the floor, a broken heap, eyes staring sightlessly into nothingness. The heavy weight was gone. Dean wanted to throw up at the sight but hunter’s instincts, long since ingrained, clamped down on both stomach and gag reflex.

The immensity vanished and Michael turned back to Anna, frozen in place, agony on her face. A second later she burned to ash, everything that made her who she was drifting away on the wind.

Dean didn’t regret her death, exactly, because he didn’t make a habit of regretting the deaths of people who tried to kill him or his family. However he thought perhaps it was a poor end for the angel and her loyal partner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Apparently Noctowl does not actually learn 'future sight' which she uses here. I did not know this, having not ever used Noctowl myself. Similarly 'tri attack' is a normal move and would not be super-effective against Skarmory. However I called artistic license because it does use ice, fire and electricity and can freeze, burn or paralyze so in a 'real world' setting it can be all three types at once.


End file.
